durhamboy

Hats of, that looks stunning.

Here's a track from Australia's The Teskey Brothers.

Thank's for the cheesy grin Andy. It's really just a case of my OCD showing, that I bothered to look closely enough at pictures you'd posted to pick up the joint line. Incredibly neat joint by the way, the same standard and attention to detail you show in every part of your builds. When it comes to bodies I make with clear/transparent finishes, I can't live with joints where the wood grain is clearly mismatched. (More so on the front than the back..) Looking forward to seeing this build/save progress to the finish.

If I can't spot a joint line I always go for the end grain. Might be wrong, but it looks like a joint line about half way from the center line to the lower edge. In other words 3/4 of the way down. If i'm right sorry for being a spoil sport.😉

Thanks for the input. The SD SMB-4A was the pickup I was originally considering as the early Rays had alnico pickups and the description on the SD website sounded pretty good. Having almost decided on the SD, my attention got diverted by the Asian alnico offerings, given that the vast majority of Asian MM pickups are ceramic. The SD's will probably win out in the end.....

Eric Lindell - Give It Time. https://youtu.be/XxFcBbTPf5o

Thanks for the feedback. I had (mistakenly) thought the Warman MM's were ceramic magnets not alnico as their ebay listings didn't mention alnico, or I just plain missed it...

I've noticed that a UK seller has quite cheap alnico 5 Music Man style pickups listed on ebay. Has anyone here tried these pickups? I know the GFS in America has an alnico MM's on their site and they have had some good reports, so I'm wondering if the ones seling in the UK could be from the same supplier as the GFS ones. The Bass player in my sons band (Still just at school so price is an issue) has a cheapish old OLP and wants to try an alnico pickup, so I told him I'd try to find him a reasonably priced one and put it in for him. These from the UK look like they might do the trick, so any feedback would be appreciated.

I've been a on a bit of a trip down memory lane lately. The Tom Robinson Band - Power In The Darkness, seems just as appropriate for the times now as it did back in the day and Van Morrison's, Astral Weeks is as much a piece of genius now as it was back in 1968. For something I've been listening to lately, https://youtu.be/bikIdnMf2gs

Excellent job there Andy .(I love this place, so many inventive people and solutions, not to mention great skills and interesting builds.) I've only ever done 2 fretboard replacements and luckily for me both were on quite old instruments glued with old style less difficult to soften glues. I do have a Warwick fretted neck (only a cheapish Rock Bass, but I like the shape and feel of it) which I have been considering defetting, but after seeing how you removed the board from this Wal,I do like your one wide strip of steel idea, it looks much easier to handle than my collection of old artists pallet knives I've used in the past. I might borrow your method and go for a nice shiny new unlined board on my Warwick neck. 😉

Looking forward to this "save" Andy, but then every build, alteration, or repair job of yours is always worth following.

And that's where the biggest difference between Pro and cheaper instruments really shows through these days. A body and neck constructed out of reasonable quality woods and cut on CNC machines can produce an instrument which will lasts for decades. The quality of the hardware and electrics are where the durability and the reliability steps up a level. (We're in "talking in generalizations" territory here of course.) Back when I started building, repairing and setting up guitars and basses, an American Fender generally had a 2 or 3 piece body, not necessarily very well matched, (just look at old Fender non painted finishes and spot the joint lines) early Mexican bodies were usually 5 piece and sunburst bodies were often veneered front and back so they looked like one piece bodies. Asian bodies included some of non traditional woods and some of plywood. Hardware for non US instruments was cheaper as were pickups, pots etc. It was all pretty much like everything else. Ryobi make perfectly acceptable tools for light use and last for decades at home, but you won't see many tradesmen on site with them. I have Japanese made Makita tools, my favorite router and a couple of sanders, that are over 30 years old and still going strong. These days just about any price point above totals silly money levels gets you a decent base instrument which can be made up to reliable "Pro" level with some set up work and better hardware and electrics. When it comes to the top price stuff there are justifications for paying for a Wal and the like, innovation, incredible attention to detail, customizing to a set of exact customer requirements etcetera, but back in the area between the top of the range Squier, the Mexican Fender and the US Fender, there's a lot smaller gap than there used to be.(Leaving aside Custom Shop special orders of course, though much of the difference there is about selection of parts and finish options.) I did a re fret recently on a early model "black logo" Korean Squire Stratocaster. The guy who owns it has had it for decades and it has one of the nicest one piece maple necks I've ever handled. I've leveled the frets twice over the years, so they were decent quality to begin with and it's obviously had plenty of use over it's life. Sure it hasn't been on world tours, but the owner is a semi pro, so it's had plenty of use. It's stood the test of time and reasonable wear and tear, so I suppose it qualifies as "pro" level even if it didn't come out of a factory in the USA.

Thanks, all looking good at this stage.

Sorry for the delay in acknowledging you most informative post, (I went in for bypass surgery on the 24th. got home yesterday, so I have plenty of time for planning before I can get into the workshop. About 3 months! That's going to hurt....) Yes, I was thinking more along the lines of just building a bass cab to be driven by the Epi head as it already has the facility to unplug the inbuilt speaker and plug into a separate cab. I will contact you with some specs in the near future, but at the moment it's more than my life's worth to be seen with a ruler or tape measure in hand, my wife is making sure I stick with the hospital and rehab guidelines. for now...😉

I know next to nothing about building amp, but have a Gen 3 Epiphone 5w valve Junior that rarely gets an outing these days. perhaps a candidate for an at home practice/jam along bass amp? Anyone ever tried that already? Or the thought just occurred to me, as it has a line out for a cab, perhaps a bass cab build to suit would be worth considering?

Yes! I think I saw "trail gluing" on a Bear Grills survival program. Damn it and I thought I was getting really good at typing now that I can use two fingers.🙄

Bones Hillman's family announced that Bones has passed away, he was recently battling cancer. Bones played bass and sang harmonies and backup with the Australian Band Midnight Oil and was still playing live last year. In tribute here's "The Oils" doing what they did best, driving inventive rock with a message. https://youtu.be/ejorQVy3m8E

The wood data base lists teak as having a weight of 41lb per cubic foot, so no heavier than some mahoganies. It's listed hardness rating is 4,740N, so in roughly the same area as alder. I know teak has a reputation for being difficult to glue, often epoxy is recommended. Finishes for teak are usually just oil based, as teak is an oily wood with great resistance to rot. It's reported that normal poly finishes won't set, though lacquers and shellac will. Also teak has a reputation for blunting cutting tools faster than most woods, but it does cut and rout well apparently. Good luck with your project, though it might be worth trail gluing and finishing some scraps or offcuts before you dive right in.

Thanks Frank, It's great to get a response from someone who has the Eden EC28. Nice to hear it can sound deep and rich with those 8 inch speakers. Thanks for all the feedback and information from everyone. There's nothing like first hand feedback from players.

Thanks everybody, there's a lot of good information in your responses. While there's lots of samples of the likes of Fender Rumbles and the smaller Ampegs around,clips of the likes of Eden, Laney and Warwick are few and far between. I haven't included Ashdown on my list as down here the range is very limited and availability is patchy. Though I hear good things about them. I'm leaning towards Eden, Hartke, or Warwick, as they seem to to get good reviews and seem to have a good set of features without being "blinged up" with effects and overdrive circuits. I have a few good pedals if I want effects colouring my sound. I quite like the Eden EC 10 and I'm sure at 50 watts it would be all I'd need for home use, but I can't help liking the EC28, and with 180watts, it could probably handle small jazz/blues and acoustic group gigs... Yeah, I know what I said, but you never know do you? 😉

OK, at 68 years young my regular gigging days are probably behind me, in fact I don't plan on playing out in public at all, but I do want to keep playing at home and maybe recording some of my own song/music, for as long as time and reasonably nimble fingers allows. As a result I've started looking at a category of amp I haven't bothered with for a very long time, compact combos suitable for home practice, but with enough features and quality to provide some versatility and the ability to sound pretty good. I've got a list, though largely based on researching specs and checking out reviews and youtube clips. Living in rural Australia, getting to actually try most options is no easy task, especially since Covid has hit, as stocks in Australia are low and in most cases it's a matter of ordering from another city in another state. Anyway, here's my list. (Many brands and models available in the UK, Europe and the USA, just aren't available here and shipping costs are huge, so it's pretty much what's available locally only for me. Plus I've left out such brands as Markbass and Phil Jones stuff as the prices here are astronomical and are way more than I'm willing to spend at the moment.) Anyway, here's my list of possibles, any and all feedback appreciated. Ampeg BA110 35w 10" speaker Eden EC 10 50w 10" speaker Eden EC 28 180w 2x8" speakers Eden EC 15 180w 15 " speaker Hartke HD 50 50w 10" speaker Laney Richter RB2 30w 10" speaker Laney Richter RB3 65w 12" speaker' Orange Crush 50 50w 10" speaker Warwick WBC40 40W 10" speaker

I agree about counterfeits as you described, they are deliberate and malicious attempts to cheat people. What most people see as copies are not that. These days most copies have different headstock shapes and brand names in distinct fonts. Yes, they might be Fender, Gibson, or whatever, in style and general appearance, but no one is calling them a Fender, or Gibson and asking Fender or Gibson prices for them.

To true about copies being OK if they're expensive rather than cheap. If a Tube Screamer clone is supposedly "hand made" and called "Captain Camels Exploding Lime", or some such crazy/w***y name, that seems to be fine. Likewise a bass that's basically a Precision, or a Jazz, but with a different headstock shape and some boutique pickups is fine too, but not an entry level or budget version, that a kid starting out, or someone who doesn't have a couple of grand spare for a bass, can afford, is not. (Does some of the outrage stem from the fact that the expensive "inspired by" versions are western world made and the cheap "copies" are from somewhere in Asia?) Just a thought on Fender copies. To my way of thinking any intellectual property attached to the designs surely belonged to Leo Fender, who sold the company and moved on to design and build what he obviously thought were next generation and to his mind, better instruments than his originals. I'm not too concerned about whichever hedge fund, or corporate conglomerate owns Fender now and whether "copies" of Leo's 70 year old designs might nibble into their profits. In fact cheap copies almost certainly increase their profits in the long run as many starter musicians will move on to the genuine article in time. Where as they might never have started playing guitar or bass if they had to find a grand or two to even get their first instrument. So ends the rant... Must be time for my first coffee of the day. 🙄

I've always thought that asking if offers would be considered was a reasonable way to approach the possibility of striking a deal. If the answer is no, fair enough, if yes then I try to make any offer reasonable. Asking "what's your best price" has always seemed a pretty dumb question to me. My"best price" would be a price higher than the one I asked for the item.....😉 People who make stupidly low offers really put me off, but I'm realistic enough to expect the odd try on, I just give them a polite but firm counter offer as my absolute lowest price.

Looks great. A really nice job, solid building skills and a classy refined look to the finished bass. You should be proud. Does it sound as good as it looks?😉